The space agency says that the historic flight, involving a remotely operated Ikhana aircraft, helps the United States to edge closer to making similar unmanned flights more normal in areas where private and commercial pilots also operate.

In fact, a NASA press release indicates that such remotely flown trips could open up different possibilities, such as monitoring and putting out wildfires and conducting emergency search-and-rescue missions.

Ed Waggoner, NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program director, said, “This is a huge milestone for our Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System project team. We worked closely with our Federal Aviation Administration colleagues for several months to ensure we met all their requirements to make this initial flight happen.”

It's traditionally been the duty of a manned chase aircraft to follow large unmanned planes like the Ikhana when they attempt to navigate through airspace used by commercial aircraft. NASA says that it received special permission from the FAA to conduct its no-chase flight under a special waiver, which let the Ikhana rely on Detect and Avoid technology. In other words, the remote pilot on the ground was able to see and avoid other planes during the flight, ostensibly eliminating the need for a chase plane.

“We are flying with a suite of sophisticated technology that greatly enhances the safety capabilities of pilots flying large unmanned aircraft in the National Airspace System,” said Scott Howe, a test pilot. “We took the time to mitigate the risks and to ensure that we, as a program, were prepared for this flight.”

The successful flight was the first remotely piloted one to use detect and avoid tech to fulfill the FAA's "see and avoid" regulations.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science indicate that it may indeed be possible to preserve the body's young, energetic, and healthy qualities even as we grow into the wisdom of years.

The research involved eliminating senescent cells, which aren't yet dead but have been effectively incapacitated, and which have also been tied to the promotion of inflammation, an aggravating cause of diseases of aging. Mice that displayed a greater accumulation of senescent cells were afflicted by chronic inflammation, looked older, and died younger.

So, the researchers administered a drug to the mice that would effectively inhibit the survival of senescent cells to see if this would result in the removal of the cells from the body. The drug was specifically given to mice whose aging was believed to be caused by immune system malfunctions as well as those showing premature aging due to a different genetic problem.

Mice thus treated appeared to improve, with tissues that took on the appearance of younger mice. They also displayed fewer senescent cells, less inflammation, and were more active and enjoyed a higher median lifespan.

The scientists plan to keep on looking into methods for motivating the human body to clear out old senescent cells, especially to discover ways of prompting the immune system to perform this maintenance task. Should future experimentation validate the scientists' theories, they could succeed in coming up with "anti-aging" treatments.

The results of this research were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers discovered that TRM cells had the capacity to control such a tumor in mice for as long as the animal lived. This is believed to equate to decades of similar protection in humans.

Simone Park, a Ph.D. student at the University of Melbourne as well as a member of the Doherty Institute, said in a news release, “Using a special microscope, we could see individual melanoma cells sitting in the skin of the mouse, and could watch the T cells move through the skin, find the melanoma cells and control the growth of those cells.”

A key issue for cancer patients is the possibility that a tumor could re-emerge years after chemotherapy or surgery. According to existing research, small groups of cancer cells can live on in the body after treatment. The Doherty study looked closer at the immune system in ways that would be impossible to do on humans.

“I was able to see through moving images that these TRM cells are important for maintaining the control of the tumor cells," said Ms. Park. "If you remove the TRM cells you have a break in that control and the cancer can start to grow back again."

As a result, she explained, if scientists could manufacture more TRM cells by way of immunotherapies, or enrich the powers of existing ones, anti-tumor immunity could be strengthened.

The damage to the Great Barrier Reef has been well publicized in recent years, with bleaching events putting the entire system at risk. As much as half of the coral cover has been lost to these events, with experts predicting that the entire cover will be gone by the year 2050. This puts in danger the marine plants and animals that call the Great Barrier Reef home.

But scientists may have found a way to at least mitigate some of the damage. Utilizing an underwater robot called LarvalBot, researchers have discovered a way to plant small baby corals all along the Great Barrier Reef. The hope is that this will eventually populate the reef, essentially repairing the damage that’s been done.

In a test run, LarvalBot was able to deliver 100,000 baby corals at Vlasoff Reef along Australia’s northeastern coast. In the future, researchers hope this type of robot will be able to drop millions of these corals in order to encourage regrowth of the reef. Scientists hope that the areas of the reef that have survived global warming have a greater tolerance to warmer temperatures, making it more likely the attempts to supplement the reef will be successful.

When it comes to counting, bees may be more efficient than humans, according to a recent study. Scientists found that when bees count, they can use only four nerve cells, allowing them to at least count to five.

Humans, on the other hand, use a much less efficient method of counting. The study showed that unlike humans, who look at all items in a group before beginning to count, bees scrutinize one item at a time. The study also found that bees have the ability to choose the smaller or larger of two values or select something with a value of zero, provided they’re trained to do so.

This study disproves the notion that a species with a smaller brain can’t conduct simple tasks like counting. Although other species may incorporate more nerve cells into these computations, this study shows that there are other ways to do things.

In addition to better understanding how insects think, studies like these are useful for artificial intelligence. Experts believe that by studying simpler-minded creatures, technologists may be able to design more efficient algorithms. Instead of mimicking the way humans count, in this case, computers could be programmed to imitate the counting patterns of bees.

Scientists from Rice University have come up with a rechargeable lithium metal battery that is said to contain three times the capacity of presently available lithium-ion cells -- all by conquering a problem that has vexed researchers for many years: the dendrite issue.

Dendrites are lithium deposits that take up more and more of a battery's electrolyte. They can accumulate to a point of short-circuiting, which makes a battery fail or possibly explode.

The Rice researchers, headed by James Tour, a chemist, discovered that when their batteries are charged, lithium metal uniformly coats the carbon hybrid area where nanotubes are fused to the surface of graphene. The hybrid in the Rice-made battery takes the place of a graphite anode in typical lithium-ion batteries, which are designed to sacrifice capacity for the sake of safety.

Tour, in a press release, said, “Lithium-ion batteries have changed the world, no doubt, but they’re about as good as they’re going to get. Your cellphone’s battery won’t last any longer until new technology comes along.”

Tour added that the new battery can accommodate lots of lithium particles as the battery charges and then discharges. The lithium is described as being "evenly distributed", which helps to spread the current that the ions carry as well as to suppress dendrite growth.

Researchers began to sense a pivotal moment in their discoveries about four years ago, when team member Abdul-Rahman Raji starting toying with lithium metal and the graphene-nanotube hybrid.

“We were excited because the voltage profile of the full cell was very flat," Raji explained. "At that moment, we knew we had found something special. We were stunned to find no dendrites grown, and the rest is history".

]]>jlillie59@msn.com (Jim Lillie)Our BlogFri, 11 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000Power This Home for Less than $3 Per Yearhttp://netributor.com/index.php/our-blog/item/1207-power-this-home-for-less-than-$3-per-year
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A pair of Melbourne-based architectural companies have combined efforts to construct what is believed to be the first 10-star carbon-positive home Down Under.

The stylish abode, which was built with the idea of wasting nothing as well as positively outgrowing its carbon footprint over its lifespan, could result in an annual savings of more than 500 pounds of carbon.

Nat Woods from the Sociable Weaver, one of the two architectural firms, recently told New Atlas, "We like to call it the full sustainability package deal."

That would be a full-package deal that's anticipated by the Social Weaver to run the occupants about $2.35 USD ($3 AUD) per year to power.

Woods tells NA that the building's passive solar design helps to keep energy costs low. And an inventive insulating technology also helps to hold in heat.

"Even on a cold Victorian winter's day the home is still noticeably warm inside without the need for any mechanical heating," says Woods.

In addition, the home sports 5 kW of solar panels on the roof, a heat pump water service, double-glazed windows, LED lighting, a 2,642-gallon rainwater tank, and non-toxic furnishings.

There's a commodious modern kitchen that flows into dining and living areas. Sizable floor-to-ceiling windows provide a beautiful coastal view. Neutral furnishing colors and open design help the whole house to fit in with its natural surroundings.

"As soon as you step inside you feel relaxed and at peace – which is fantastic seeing as we use the home as our office!", Woods adds.

The energy efficient home is valued at $490,000 AUD, or about $386,000 USD, and is open for public viewing -- something that may inspire other builders to follow suit.

Chronic fatigue syndrome can be a frustrating condition, disrupting the ability to pursue a career and enjoy personal activities. But one key to fighting the disease is to identify its cause. Noting that many begin suffering from the syndrome following a challenge to the body’s immune system, such as an infection, scientists believe they may have pinpointed what causes it.

After studying 55 patients who had Hepatitis-C, the scientists discovered that 18 of those patients went on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome. The key to the reaction, they believe, is a drug that those patients took that challenges the immune system similarly to the way an infection does. As a result, the team believes that chronic fatigue syndrome could happen as a result of an overactive immune system. This overactivity is in place both before, during, and after something challenges the immune system.

This is only the latest study in a growing collection of evidence that the immune system plays an important role in causing chronic fatigue syndrome. Identifying this link could be the first step into developing treatments, or at least predicting whether someone is at risk through a screening procedure. There currently is no known cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, which affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

There’s a world going on beneath the Earth’s surface that we haven’t even been aware of until now. As a recent report from a group of scientists reveals, there is an ecosystem underneath the ground we walk on, known as the “deep biosphere.” It goes to the core of the Earth and consists primarily of bacteria and microbes.

Perhaps most surprisingly, the team found that the combined weight of all of this life is hundreds of times heavier than the weight of all humans living on Earth combined. The researchers discovered there are between 16.5 to 25 billion tons of these microorganism existing beneath the Earth’s surface.

The information came out of the Deep Carbon Observatory, where scientists explored boreholes across the globe. The type of life residing beneath the Earth can subsist on energy from rocks and gases, surviving thousands of years even in the presence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The study is part of a ten-year project that ends next year. The team, which includes 1200 scientists from various locations across the globe, presented its preliminary findings at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting. The life beneath Earth includes zombie bacteria and archaea, a type of microbe.

The vehicles combine Honda's all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and emerging advanced autonomous technology and are designed to improve safety and efficiency for commercial, public, and consumer endeavors such as firefighting, landscaping, rescue, agriculture, construction, and snow removal.

The ATV chassis that serves as the base for the new Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV) has been developed over three decades with the purpose of helping people to reach remote locations by way of a four-wheel drive system. Because of its compact size and ability to operate off-road, the prototype is ideal for a variety of locations ranging from tight urban pedestrian areas to thickly vegetated forests.

"Honda showed its vision of the Autonomous Work Vehicle as a concept at CES 2018, and we've been testing in real-world scenarios to demonstrate the value and capabilities of this unique machine," Pete Wendt, senior planner in Advanced Product Planning, Honda R&D Americas, said in a press release. "Honda is looking for additional partners to evolve the technology and develop attachments or accessories that will expand the potential uses for the Autonomous Work Vehicle."

Honda has already examined use cases for the AWV in a trio of varied environments: a woodland firefighting division in Colorado; a massive solar operations concern in North Carolina; and, an agricultural and environmental sciences educational institution in California.

For the Colorado use case, Honda installed a gear rack on the AWV that was used to haul supplies, water, and equipment, following the firefighters by using a "Follow Me" navigation mode.

One of the most difficult challenges facing firefighters who battle wildfires is how to allocate and deploy resources, especially since firefighters are each typically weighed down by about 60 pounds of equipment.